December 10, 2012

ConocoPhillips Hires Alston & Bird to Lobby on Tax Issues

A U.S. oil and natural
gas giant has tapped Alston & Bird for lobbying help in Washington.

ConocoPhillips Co. has
enlisted an Alston team that includes former Representatives Earl Pomeroy
(D-N.D.) and Billy Tauzin (R-La.) to advocate for it on "[t]ax and other
issues affecting the oil and gas industry," according to lobbying registration
paperwork filed with Congress last week. Pomeroy, a senior counsel, and Tauzin,
a special legislative counsel, are handling the account with counsel Carolyn
Smith, senior policy adviser Robert Siggins and partner Robert Jones, who leads
Alston's legislative and public policy group.

Daren Beaudo, a
ConocoPhillips spokesman, declined to elaborate on Alston's lobbying work. None
of the lobbyists could be reached immediately for comment.

ConocoPhillips spent
$2.4 million on federal lobbying during the first three quarters of this year,
according to congressional records. For its government affairs work,
ConocoPhillips used its own staffers, as well as lobbyists from BlueWater
Strategies and Harlow Government Relations.

The Houston-based
company most recently lobbied on tax matters that included the Repeal Big Oil
Tax Subsidies Act in the U.S. Senate. The bill would take away billions of
dollars of tax breaks from the oil and gas industry.

Despite an appeal by
President Barack Obama to pass the legislation, the measure was unable to
garner enough votes to overcome a filibuster in March.

Obama said before the
vote in March that major oil and gas companies don't need the tax incentives to
remain lucrative.

"Instead of
taxpayer giveaways to an industry that’s never been more profitable, we should
be using that money to double-down on investments in clean energy technologies
that have never been more promising – investments in wind power and solar power
and biofuels; investments in fuel-efficient cars and trucks, and
energy-efficient homes and buildings," Obama said. "That’s the
future. That’s the only way we're going to break this cycle of high gas prices
that happen year after year after year."